Fisher: ‘We feel like we’re negotiating with ourselves’

In talking to Predators forward Mike Fisher last night by phone after the NHLPA meetings in New York, there’s a sense that a collective bargaining agreement can get done before Saturday’s NHL imposed deadline to lock out the players. But there’s also a feeling from the players that the owners’ refusal to move their negotiating stance could prevent this from happening.

The owners want a large increase in their percentage of hockey-related revenue. In the last CBA, the players got 57 percent in the final year of the deal. The owners probably want that number closer to 50-50, but have been pushing for a greater number. Their latest deal asked for a reported 51 percent of HRR, which would slide up to 53 percent by the end of its six-year term.

“We don’t want a lockout, but that’s what it’s going to come to if the owners don’t … we feel like we’re negotiating with ourselves right now,” Fisher said. “The owners aren’t really willing to budge.”

Fisher is one of several Predators players in New York for the meetings. An estimated 275 players are there.

“If the owners lock us out, that’s going to … the momentum of that is going to hurt Nashville for sure,” Fisher said. “As a group, as a whole, the league has definitely grown revenues with the players’ help, and there’s a lot of revenue there and enough there for everyone to be profitable, including Nashville, which has seen a lot of growth.”

Fisher still believes it is humanly possible for a deal to get done, but as time ticks towards 10:59 p.m. Central on Saturday — the time the lockout would be imposed — without any sort of positive negotiating traction, it continues to get tougher and tougher.

“Can a deal get done? Yes. There’s definitely enough time,” Fisher said. “Will it get done? I can’t see it being the case with the position the league has taken so far.”

Here are a few other tidbits from our conversation with Fisher:

On player response to the negotiations: “I’ve never seen so many guys together and united and it was really good to see. The turnout and the morale of the group was the best I’ve seen it. We’re definitely all together for sure.”

On the 2004-05 lockout and the players’ current proposal: “We feel like we made some really significant concessions back then with the (24 percent salary) rollback, and now here we are again and they’re saying ‘we want more, we want more.’ And our latest proposal was significant again, very significant.”

On Nashville: “It is a perfect situation of a team that has come from a small market, really breaking out of that, seeing tremendous growth, seen revenues go through the roof and is doing real well.”

On his lockout plans: “I think I’m going to be staying in Nashville and training and skating and kind of just preparing and being ready.”